Decide
by nightingaleofshadow
Summary: In the wake of Anderson's death, Shepard finds himself faced with a decision that will change the universe forever.


Commander Issac Shepard looked out at the three choices afforded to him by the spectral looking Catalyst.

One would obliterate the Reapers utterly, thereby ending the war, but would also eradicate every synthetic being within range. The second would give him total control over every Reaper, including the massively powerful Harbinger, at the cost of his physical body. The third option, which the Catalyst described as "Synthesis", would also kill him, but it would add his DNA to the Crucible's, and all organic life would be altered irrevocably into synthetics, thereby removing the need for the Reapers.

Shepard began to walk down the long path that would lead to the fork in the choices, and he looked out the massive windows to space itself, and the hell that the war had become. Countless ships were in fierce combat with numberless Reapers, and debris littered the space in between the two forces like an open graveyard. As he gazed, he thought he saw the tell-tale flash of blue that the SR-2 Normandy emitted when powering it's thrusters.  
Gazing at the M-3 Predator in his hand, Shepard only had one thought on his mind.

Tali.

The young quarian woman who had stolen his heart during the assault on the Collectors, she had been one of the only bright points in Shepard's short life, along with his friendship with Admiral David Anderson, Jeff "Joker" Moreau, and Doctor Karin Chakwas. Before taking part in the assault on the beam leading to the Citadel, Tali had taken his hand, and said that the one thing she wanted was more time with Shepard, before being wounded in the attack by Harbinger. Shepard had all but forced her to go on the Normandy and leave to safety, but not before promising to come back to her, and help her build a home on the newly recovered Rannoch.  
Shepard loved Tali with all of his heart, and would do anything to make her happy. But the one thing he couldn't do was come back. The options afforded by the Catalyst were not kind enough to offer a way to reunite the Commander and the light of his life.  
Giving a sad chuckle, the wounded Commander tossed his reliable side-arm aside, and turned right, towards the exposed circuits, that, if damaged, would obliterate the reapers.

After walking in slow agony towards his destination, Shepard found himself standing not 30 feet away from the circuits. Raising his right arm, he pointed it at the circuits, and a massive cloud of biotic energy began to encompass his arm. He offhandedly noticed just how beautiful the swirling energy covering his forearm was.  
Raising his arm, Shepard launched the flare of biotic energy at the circuits, and closed his eyes. He heard, and then felt the massive explosions that began to chain throughout the room, and by extension, the Citadel itself. Crossing his arms in front of his face, Shepard was launched backwards by the force of the multiple explosions.  
As he flew through the air, Shepard smiled, and Tali's face filled his thoughts, before he blacked out.

Aboard the Normandy, inside the med-bay, Tali'zorah vas Normandy felt a shudder course her suited body. Wounded by the explosion, she had thought of nothing but Shepard, even as Doctor Chakwas carefully removed shrapnel from her body. The physical pain of the injuries were nothing compared to seeing the conflict in Shepard's face as he told her to go, promising to return to her. She wrapped her bandaged arms around her legs, and put her helmeted face on her knees.  
"Shepard, please come back to me."

Much later,the explosions on the Citadel had died down, and the massive room that had housed the Catalyst was quiet as a tomb. Debris was everywhere, the windows had been shattered, but covered by massive blast doors, and the spectral AI was nowhere to be seen. The massive construct of tubing, wires, and metal plating was a charred husk that was completely beyond repair.  
A short, gasping breath shattered the silence, followed by the sound of rubble shifting around.


End file.
